Ignacio Chapela
Encyclopedia
Ignacio Chapela is an microbial
ecologist
and mycologist
at the University of California, Berkeley
. He is best known for a controversial 2001 paper in Nature
on the flow of transgenes into wild maize populations, as an outspoken critic of the University of California
's ties to the biotechnology
industry, as well as a later dispute with the University over denial of tenure that Chapela argued was politically motivated. Chapela is also notable for his work with natural resources
and indigenous rights
.
on the ecology of microbial wood-rotting fungi. He continued research on a number of areas of fungal ecology through the 1990s, as a visiting scholar
at various research institutions, private companies, and NGOs, finally settling at UC Berkeley, where he has been on the faculty the Department of Ecosystem Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM) since 1996.
He has worked on the symbiosis
between leafcutter ant
s and their cultivated fungi. His research seems to indicate that some leaf-cutter ants have "domesticated" a single lineage of fungi for over 30 million years; Chapela is currently studying this symbiosis from evolution
ary and agricultural perspectives, as well as looking for ways to manipulate it.
paper about the flow of transgene
s in to wild Mexican
maize
. Controversy over the accuracy of the claims and methodological concerns about the paper led to an editor's note saying there was insufficient evidence to justify the original publication. Advocates of GM crops widely, and erroneously, called this a retraction.
A subsequent study performed in 2003–2004 at two independent labs, found no evidence of transgenic DNA in Mexican maize. However, a more recent study published in the February 2009 issue of Molecular Ecology
confirmed the presence of transgenic DNA in Mexican maize. The study, however, did not confirm an important conclusion from the 2001 Nature
paper, namely, that the transgene-contaminated corn has replicated. Chapela is reported to have stated in response to the study, "It is good to see this...but it took seven years."
in exchange for a degree of publication scrutiny and trade secrecy, taking a strong position on the issue.
Chapela was initially denied tenure
at UC Berkeley in 2003. Supporters claim that this stems from opposition to Chapela's anti-Novartis activism from Molecular and Cell Biology faculty member Jasper Rine
, who was both a member of the tenure committee and in a research relationship with the company. However, Chapela was ultimately awarded tenure in 2005.
Chapela has also spoken out against the deal between UC Berkeley, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and British Petroleum to research the development of biofuels, which may involve genetically engineering microorganisms and plants. The grant went into effect in 2007.
state, a facility dealing with questions of natural resources and indigenous rights
, and collaborates with indigenous communities in Mexico, Costa Rica
, and Ecuador
on issues of rights to genetic resources. He is also an advisory board member for The Sunshine Project, an organization promoting citizens' concerns with biosafety
and biowarfare.
He has appeared in several films on genetically modified organism
and food systems
issues, The World According to Monsanto
and The Future of Food
.
Chapela is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area group Retort collective
.
Microbiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
ecologist
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
and mycologist
Mycology
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicinals , food and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. He is best known for a controversial 2001 paper in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
on the flow of transgenes into wild maize populations, as an outspoken critic of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
's ties to the biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
industry, as well as a later dispute with the University over denial of tenure that Chapela argued was politically motivated. Chapela is also notable for his work with natural resources
Natural Resources
Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"...
and indigenous rights
Indigenous rights
Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the preservation of their land, language, religion and other elements of cultural...
.
Mycological research
In the late 1980s, Chapela did his PhD dissertation research at Cardiff UniversityCardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
on the ecology of microbial wood-rotting fungi. He continued research on a number of areas of fungal ecology through the 1990s, as a visiting scholar
Visiting scholar
In the world of academia, a visiting scholar or visiting academic is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university, where he or she is projected to teach , lecture , or perform research on a topic the visitor is valued for...
at various research institutions, private companies, and NGOs, finally settling at UC Berkeley, where he has been on the faculty the Department of Ecosystem Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM) since 1996.
He has worked on the symbiosis
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...
between leafcutter ant
Leafcutter ant
Leafcutter ants, a non-generic name, are any of 47 species of leaf-chewing ants belonging to the two genera Atta and Acromyrmex.These species of tropical, fungus-growing ants are all endemic to South, Central America, Mexico and parts of the southern United States.The Acromyrmex and Atta ants have...
s and their cultivated fungi. His research seems to indicate that some leaf-cutter ants have "domesticated" a single lineage of fungi for over 30 million years; Chapela is currently studying this symbiosis from evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
ary and agricultural perspectives, as well as looking for ways to manipulate it.
Transgene research
Chapela was co-author (with his graduate student, David Quist) of a controversial 2001 NatureNature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
paper about the flow of transgene
Transgene
A transgene is a gene or genetic material that has been transferred naturally or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques from one organism to another....
s in to wild Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
. Controversy over the accuracy of the claims and methodological concerns about the paper led to an editor's note saying there was insufficient evidence to justify the original publication. Advocates of GM crops widely, and erroneously, called this a retraction.
A subsequent study performed in 2003–2004 at two independent labs, found no evidence of transgenic DNA in Mexican maize. However, a more recent study published in the February 2009 issue of Molecular Ecology
Molecular Ecology (journal)
Molecular Ecology is a twice monthly scientific journal covering investigations that use molecular genetic techniques to address questions in ecology, evolution, behavior, and conservation. Molecular Ecology is published by Wiley-Blackwell....
confirmed the presence of transgenic DNA in Mexican maize. The study, however, did not confirm an important conclusion from the 2001 Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
paper, namely, that the transgene-contaminated corn has replicated. Chapela is reported to have stated in response to the study, "It is good to see this...but it took seven years."
Disputes with University of California
Chapela objected to an agreement in which the department and faculty of Plant and Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley took money from NovartisNovartis
Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...
in exchange for a degree of publication scrutiny and trade secrecy, taking a strong position on the issue.
Chapela was initially denied tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
at UC Berkeley in 2003. Supporters claim that this stems from opposition to Chapela's anti-Novartis activism from Molecular and Cell Biology faculty member Jasper Rine
Jasper Rine
Jasper Donald Rine is an American scientist a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development at the University of California, Berkeley....
, who was both a member of the tenure committee and in a research relationship with the company. However, Chapela was ultimately awarded tenure in 2005.
Chapela has also spoken out against the deal between UC Berkeley, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and British Petroleum to research the development of biofuels, which may involve genetically engineering microorganisms and plants. The grant went into effect in 2007.
Activism
Chapela founded The Mycological Facility in OaxacaOaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
state, a facility dealing with questions of natural resources and indigenous rights
Indigenous rights
Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the preservation of their land, language, religion and other elements of cultural...
, and collaborates with indigenous communities in Mexico, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, and Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
on issues of rights to genetic resources. He is also an advisory board member for The Sunshine Project, an organization promoting citizens' concerns with biosafety
Biosafety
Biosafety: prevention of large-scale loss of biological integrity, focusing both on ecology and human health .Biosafety is related to several fields:*In ecology ,...
and biowarfare.
He has appeared in several films on genetically modified organism
Genetically modified organism
A genetically modified organism or genetically engineered organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one...
and food systems
Food systems
The term "food system" is used frequently in discussions about nutrition, food, health, community economic development and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing,...
issues, The World According to Monsanto
The World According to Monsanto
The World According to Monsanto is a 2008 documentary film directed by Marie-Monique Robin. Originally released in French as Le monde selon Monsanto, the film is based on Robin's three-year long investigation into the US agricultural giant Monsanto corporation's practices around the world...
and The Future of Food
The Future of Food
The Future of Food is a 2004 American documentary film which makes an in-depth investigation into unlabelled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have made their way onto grocery stores in the United States for the past decade...
.
Chapela is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area group Retort collective
Retort collective
The Retort is a radical encounter of about forty writers, teachers, artists, and activists, all opponents of capital and empire, which has been based for the past two decades in the San Francisco Bay Area....
.